Method of and means for making automobile roofs and stamping for such roofs



April 5, 1949. L BRAUN 2,

METHOD OF AND MEA NS FOR MAKING AUTOMOBILE ROOFS AND STAMPING FOR SUCH ROOFS Original Filed July 10, 1946 '7 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Ludwig Bmun ATTORNEY Original Filed July 10, 1946 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 April '5, 19. L. BRAUN 2,466,367

' METHOD OF AND MEA FOR MAKING 'AUTOM LE F0 SUCH ROOF ROOFS AND STA NG R INVENTOR Ludwig Bmurx ATTORNEY I Original Filed July 10,

April 5, 1949. U N 2,466,367

METHOD OF AND MEANS F 0R MA NG AUTOMOBILE ROOFS AND. STAMPING F0 UCH ROOFS- 1946 7 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR Ludwig Braum ATTORNEY April 5, 194-9. BRAUN 2,466,367

METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR MAKING AUTOMOBILE ROOFS AND STAMPING FOR SUCH ROOFS Original Filed July 10, 1946 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR Ludwig Brqun, MX

A TTORNE Y I METHOD OF AND ME AUTOMOBILE. ROOFS AND S PING FOR H ROOFS Original Filed July 10, '1946 M 9- L. BRAUN 2,466,367

S FOR MAKING suc 7 sheet -sheet 5 262 v {25 B7- 62 I\ 3 INVENTOR @1 1 V Ludwltg Braum I v/ I, I ITTORNEY P 1949- BRAUN 2,466,367

, METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR MAKING AUTOMOBILE RQOFS AND STAMPING FOR SUCH ROOFS Original Filed July 10, 1946 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 32 INVENTOR Ludwig Btaun.

ATTORNEY April 5, 1949.

L. BRAUN METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR MAKING AUTOMOBILE ROOFS AND STAMPING FOR SUCH ROOFS Original Filed July 10, 1946 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 A a 6i Z INVENTOR I 65 Ludwig Braun,

Mi fl w A TTORNE Y Patented Apr. 5, 19d

METHOD or AND MEANS non G AUTOMOBILE noors AND s'r FOR soon moors Ludwig Braun, Philadelphia, Pa, assignor to The Budd Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Original application July 10, 1946, Serial No.

Divided and this application October 28, 1947, Serial No. 782,646

Claims. (Cl. 29-190) pressed of sheet metal, the designer has to decide which panel portions to combine into one stamp ing and where to locate the seams connecting the stampings in the complete body. Often, the decisions reflect mere routine engineering skill based on similar problems and their solutions used for previous designs.

Yet, sometimes an entirely new situation arises requiring unconventional treatment, or a new and surprising solution is found for an old situation which had been dealt with previously in a less advantageous way. Such is the case with the present invention.

The invention is based on a new combination of body portions into unitary stampings and subassembly units respectively and on a new arrangement of the seams connecting the stampings and units. The finished stampings and units form the subject matter of the inventors application, Serial No. 682,512, "Automobile roof and end wall, filed July 10, 1946, of which this application is a division. The advantages achieved by the new combination of body portions and the new arrangement of the seams are greater ease of manufacturing the unitary roof and end wall stampings of the above-indicated type and considerable reduction of the length of the welding seams connecting such stampings with adjoining stampings, especially of seams exposed to view and therefore requiring careful finishing operatlonsbefore'the paint is applied.

. The aforesaid and the present applications deal specifically with a roof of sheet metal-which is downwardly extended at the rear and adjoined by rearquarter panel portions, that is, side panel portions between the rear side window or door po'sts and the rear view opening. When difliculties'arose'in making such roof as one stamping together-with the adjoining panel portions, it has been common practice either to form the quarter panel portions at least in part by two separate stampings an'd to weld them to the roof and rear wall stamping so as to constitute therewith one subassembly unit or to form the quarter panel portions as parts of the'side wall units to be connected with-the roof subassembly in the final assembly operation. Both known procedures entail long welding seams at locations exposed to .view and therefore requiring careful finishing.

The roof and end wall construction accordin to the aforesaid application, has the rear quarter panel sections formed as integral one-piece portions of the roof stamping, whereas the transverse member below the rear view opening, or at least a considerable part thereof, is formed as a separate stamping which is connected with the roof stamping in a subassembly operation. With this arrangement and procedure, there are only two short seams between thev rear view opening and the trunk lid opening which require welding and careful finishing.

This new design permits using a new form of die for and a new method of making the roof stamping, which method and equipment, together with the stamping obtained by them, constitute the invention covered by this application and will become apparent as the description proceeds.

The details of the invention as well as the specific problems involved and the advantages achieved are fully disclosed in the attached drawing and the following description of an embodiment.

In the drawing,

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation of an automobile showing the roof subassembly unit in heavy lines, whereas the remainder of the body is indicated by mere dot.-and-dash lines;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the roof unit alone on a slightly smaller scale than Figure 1;

- Figure 3 is a fragmentary plan view on a larger scale of the rear left-hand corner of the roof unit shown in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary side elevation of the rear part of the roof unit on about the scale of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary end elevation of the left-hand side and part of the right-hand side of the roof unit on about the scale of Figures 3 and 4;

Figures 6, 7 and 8 are fragmentary sections through the side margins of the roof unit taken along the correspondingly numbered lines of but on a larger scale than Figure 1 and viewed in the direction of the arrows on such lines;

Figures 9 and 10 are fragmentary sections through the rear middle portion of the roof, the sections being taken along the correspondingly numbered lines of Figures 2 and 5 and the scale being about the same as that of the preceding Figures 6 to 8;

Figures 11 and 12 are fragmentary sections through the connection between the main .roof

3 stamping and the separate stamping below the rear view opening, the sections being taken along the correspondingly numbered lines of Figure 3 and the scale being somewhat larger than the scale of the preceding sectional figures;

Figure 13 is a perspective fragmentary side elevation of the rear portion of the main roof stamping after the first forming operation on a smaller scale than Figure 4;

Figure 14 is a perspective rear elevation of the stamping shown in Figure 13;

Figure 15 is a fragmentary perspective rear and side elevation of the plunger of the first forming die;

Figure 16 is a fragmentary perspective inside view of the rear portion of the lower die member and of a part of a stamping in place in the die;

Figure 17 is a fragmentary somewhat diagrammatic section through the die members shown in Figures 15 and 16 and through the upper margin holder with a stamping in place between these members, the section being taken along the longitudinal vertical center plane of the stamping and the die; and

Figures 18 and 19 are fragmentary somewhat diagrammatic sections through the lateral side portions of the members shown in Figure 1'? and on about the same scale, the sections being taken along transverse vertical planes in the regions indicated by lines l8l8 and l9-i9 of Figure 17.

The outer shellof the roof subassembly unit illustrated in Figures 1 to 12 comprises as outstanding elements a large main stamping 25 and a small transverse rail member 26 between the rear view opening 21 and the trunk opening 28, the latter to be closed by the trunk lid 26. The stamping 25 is downwardly curved at the rear so as to form the header 25' of the rear view opening 21.

At the front, as is quite customary, the main stamping 25 may be extended downwardly so as to constitute the windshield header 30, the upper front post covers and windshield side frame .members 3|, and the lower transverse windshield frame member and cowl top 32. The roof stamping extends from the belt line 33 in the front post region over the openings for the doors 34 and along the upper portion of the rear door opening down to the belt line and preferably slightly therebeyond to line 35 as will be discussed more fully later on.

In the region defined by the rear door opening, the rear view window opening 21 and the lower side margin, the stamping 25 constitutes on each side the rear quarter panel 36.

Along the door openings, the roof stamping 25 is downwardly arched at 31, is beaded and inwardly flanged at 38, and connected to separately made drip channel and inner reinforcing or header members 39 and 4m (Figures 7 and 8). Stamping 25 with its flanges 38 and reinforcements 39, 40 forms the door rails.

Around the rear view opening 21 both stampings 25 and 26 are flanged at M, 42 and connected with inner reinforcing members 43, 44 and a center mullion 45.

The forward side corners of the trunk opening 28 as well as the lower side corners of the rear view opening 21 are formed by stubs or horns 46, 41 of the main stamping 25. The horns 46 are continued and interconnected by the stamping 26, whereas the horns 41 are continued by lateral stampings 48 indicated in Figure 1. The stampings 25 and 26 are provided along the margin of the trunk opening with a channel section forma- 4 tion 49, 50 for sealing the margins of the trunk lid 29. The channel 49 is formed on each side by a separate member welded to an inturned flange 5i of the stamping 25.

The stamping 25 with member 49 and the stamping 26 overlap each other for a short distance, as clearly indicated in Figures 3, 11 and 2, and the overlapping portions 52 of members 25. 49 are slightly offset at 53 for the reception of the marginal end portion 54 of member 26. Besides, both overlapping portions 52, 54 are inwardly offset between the flanges 4|, 42 and the channels 49, 56 so that after the connection of the overlapping portions, as by spot Welding, a shallow channel remains. This channel is filled with solder to the level (indicated by line 55 in Figures 11 and 12) of the adjoining outer surface portions of the members 25, 26, so that after polishing and painting the joints between stampings 25 and 26 are invisible and the roof has the appearance of a single stamping.

As indicated in the introductory paragraphs, the manufacture of the roof unit comprising the members 25, 26 as a single mono-piece stamping would be, at least economically, unfeasible, so that hitherto designs were employed which are different from the design illustrated in the drawing and described so far. The described and illustrated roof unit lends itself to a manufacturing-method which is economical and which permits assembly of the component parts with a relatively small amount of labor and of expense for finishing the unit, the latter advantage being largely due to the shortness of the welding seams between the horns 46 of the stamping 25 and the ends of the stamping 26. In previously made roof units of comparable size and shape, the seams to be hidden would extend from a point between the upper rear corner of the rear door opening to the trunk opening, that is, a distance which is many times, frequently about 8 to 10 times, longer than the visible part of the joints between the members 25 and 26 of the construction according to the present invention.

The rear quarter portion 36 of the stamping 25 extends to the top margin of the rear fender 56 and is provided with a connecting flange 51 so that on each side the fender hides from view the connection of the stamping 25 with the adjoining parts of the body side wall. The horns or stubs 4'! and the stamping 48 may be connected with each other in a similar manner as described above for the connection between the stubs 46 and the cross member 26. Here again, the visible parts of the seam, extending merely from the trunk lid 29 to the fender 56, are extremely short'and, consequently, require but little solder and finishing work.

The main forming die for drawing the large roof stamping 25 comprises a plunger or upper die member 58, an upper margin holder 59, and the combined lower die member and margin holder 66. These three members cover or surround the entire area of a roof stamping 25 though Figures 15 to 19 illustrate only the rear region because the construction of the die in the front region may follow known, well established lines.

The portions of the upper and lower die members 58 and 60 shaped with main working surfaces corresponding to the respective parts of the roof stamping 25 are identified by reference characters I60 and 200 numbers higher, respectively.

Thus, the portions corresponding to the rear quarter side panel 36 are marked I36 (Figure 15) on the plunger 56 and 266 on the lower die member (Figure 16) This obviates largely the necessity of describing the forming contours of the dies.

During the stamping operation, the margins 6 I, 62 of the blank are held between the auxiliary working surfaces I6I, I62 and 26I, 262 of the upper margin holder 59 and the lower die 66, re-

.spectively. It will be understood that the lower die 60 is stationary and that the upper margin holder 59 comes down first so as to grip the margins of the blank whereupon the plunger 56 moves down and shapes the sheet while drawing mate rial in from the margins in overcoming the friction exerted on the blank by the margin holders.

A detailed description of thedrawing procedure, of the die, and of its mounting in a press (not shown) is deemed unnecessary as these .features are well known. The only. yet important exception is the unconventional formation of the die and the drawing procedure in the rear region of the roof member-25 which will now be described.

In the rear region, the auxiliary working surface of plunger 56 has a high hump or arch I63 extending close to the portion I25 for forming the header of the rear view opening and the upper margin holder 59 has a similar hump I66 while the lower die is recessed at 263, 264 corresponding to the shape of said humps I63, I64. I

On account of these arched humps and recessed portions of the margin holders and die members, which extend in the center with their longitudinally arranged peaks close to the main central area of the stamping 25, it is possible to draw the wide and deep rear quarter side portions 36. The provision of these humps and recesses is, on the other hand, admissible only on account of the formation as a separate stamping of the panel 26 between rear view opening 21 and trunk opening 28. The unfinished stamping as shown in Figures 13 and 14 has arched portions 63, 64 corresponding to the humps I63, I64 and recesses 263, 266, and these arched portions 63, 66 must later be removed.

For the formation of the rear view opening 21 as far as it is enclosed by the stamping 25, the lower die 66 is provided with a transversely reciprocable member 65 which is brought into engagement with the blank in a final operation by means of wedge 66 actuated by appropriate means (not shown). This reciprocable member 65, wedge 66 and plunger 58 are provided with cooperating cutting members 61 serving to make cuts 68 (Figures 13 and 14) for relieving the tension in the blank, These cutters are indicated only diagrammatically because they are well known expedients.

It will be understood that the stamping shown in Figures 13 and 14 and partly in Figure 16 as.

produced by the die illustrated in Figures to 19 is subsequently trimmed so as to remove the marginal portions 6|, 62 and the portions 69 covering the rear view opening and, furthermore, that the stamping is subject to additional forming operations for obtaining the undercut flanges 36 and other details of the final shape which are not obtained by the first forming operation. However, it is not necessary to describe the subsequent trimming and forming operations because they may be carried out along lines well established in the art.

Only after the stamping 25 has attained itsfinal shape is it connected with the separately made transverse panel 26 and other supplemental is filled in and polished oil at the Joints between the members 25 .and 26, whereupon the roof subassembly unit is ready for assembly with adjoining members of the body.

The invention is not restricted to the illustrated embodiment but may be modified, e. g., it may be adapted to different roof shapes. More particularly, the invention is applicable to roots which do not extend as far to the front as shown in the embodiment but which may end to the rear of or at the windshield opening, In case of rear quarter side windowopenings, the rear quarter panels of the roof may extend to the top and rear margins of or may include such openings. The invention may also be applied to the formation at the front of the body for forming the front posts and the windshield frame. Protection is sought broadly for the invention including its modifications and adaptations as expressed by the spirit and the language of the attached claims.

What is claimed is:

1. As an article of manufacture, an unfinished stamping including a large portion of the substantially horizontal panel of an automobile roof and rear quarter side panels between the rear margins of side wall openings and the side margins of a rear view opening, said unfinished stamping having marginal portions extending between and projecting beyond said roof and side quarter panels, being adapted for engagement by margin holders of a set of dies during the stamping operation and being destined to be trimmed oif in a subsequent operation, said marginal portions extending adjacent the longitudinal middle line of the stamping in the region of the rear view opening upwardly in an arch or hump close to the upper margin of the rear view opening thereby reducing in this region the depth of draw.

2. As an article of manufacture, a preliminary stamping including at least a large portion of the substantially horizontal section of an automobile roof and side and end wall panel portions between side openings and the side margins of an end wall opening, said intermediary stamping being provided with marginal portions extending between and projecting beyond the aforesaidroof and wall portions, being adapted for engagement by.

the margin holders of forming dies during the stamping operation, and being destined to be trimmed oil! prior to the finishing of the stamping, said marginal portions extending adjacent the longitudinal middle line of the stamping in the region of the end wall opening upwardl in an arch or hump close to the upper margin of the end wall opening so as to reduce in this region the depth of draw.

3. In the art of making as part of an automobile body a sheet metal structure which includes a portion of the roof extending from one side of the body to the other and at least over'a large part of the length thereof, the upper lateral por-' tions of an end wall forming the top and side margins of an end wall opening, a transverse end wall portion forming the lower margin of said opening, and side wall portions adjoining said roof and lateral end wall portions; the method comprising the step of die forming from a sheet metal blank a first stamping including the aforesaid roof, upper lateral end wall and side wall portions to the exclusion, at least in part, of said transverse end wall portion below the end wall opening, and the step of forming that part of said transverse end wall portion which is ex mem e such as 3 43, 9 nd the solder eluded from said first stamping on a separate secsaid first stamping.

4. In the art of making as part of an automobile body a sheet metal structure which includes a portion of the roof extending from one side of the body to the other and at least over a large part of the length thereof. the upperportions of an end wall forming the top and side margins of an end wall opening, a transverse end wall portion forming the lower margin of said opening, and side wall portions adjoining said roof and lateral end wall portions; the method comprising the step of die forming from one sheet metal blank a stamping including the aforesaid roof, upper end wall and side wall portions to the exclusion, at least in part, of said transverse end wall portion below the end wall opening, and the step of forming a hump on the portion of the blank located between the side margins of the opening and later on to be trimmed off, the hump having a peak extending in the longitudinal direction of the body and rising from portions forming the lower ends of the' side margins to ward the middle of the portion forming the upper margin of the end wall opening, said hump serving to reduce the depth of draw.

5. Die for forming from a sheet metal blank a stamping for an automobile body, which stamping is to comprise a large portion of the generally horizontal roof and adjoining end wall and side wall portions, the end wall portion defining the top margin and the side margins of an end wall opening, said dle being provided with main working surfaces shaped to impart toa sheet metal blank the shape of the aforesaid portions of the stamping and with auxiliary working. surfaces including margin holders for portions of the blank surrounded by the top and side margins of the end wall opening and later on to be trimmed ofl', said auxiliary working surfaces being arched in longitudinal direction from the portions 01 the die for forming the lower ends of the side margins of the end wall opening toward the portion of the die for forming the middle of the upper margin of the end wall opening, the arching of said auxiliary working surfaces serving to reduce the depth of draw.

LUDWIG BRAUN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS I Date 

